ENGLISH CLUB RUGBY’S bleak financial climate appears to have claimed another victim after Jersey Reds announced they have ceased trading while the sport is being showcased at the World Cup in France.
The Reds claimed their first Championship title last season but after 11 years in the second tier, they face liquidation unless emergency funding can be secured.
News of their likely demise comes after English Premiership clubs Wasps, Worcester and London Irish entered administration during the 2022/23 campaign, reducing the top flight to a 10-team competition.
Despite winning the second-tier title, Jersey were denied access to the Premiership as promotion and relegation has been suspended since the 2020/21 season.
Players (including an Irish contingent of Alex McHenry, Eoghan Clarke, Greg McGrath, Peter Sullivan and Seán O’Connor) and staff at the Reds were told on Thursday that they would not receive their September salaries and that Friday’s Premiership Rugby Cup tie against Cornish Pirates could not be fulfilled.
Jersey beat Johan van Graan’s Bath 34-10 in the same competition earlier this month.
Absolutely devastated.
— Alex McHenry (@AlexMcHenry97) September 28, 2023
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Chairman Mark Morgan criticised English rugby’s powerbrokers for failing to put in place a structure for the Championship that would have allowed the club to attract financing.
“At one stage at the end of last season it appeared there was a viable way forward for the second tier once the new Professional Game Agreement was implemented from summer 2024, but Championship clubs have been left in the dark since that point,” he said.
“This led to a growing fatigue among those who may have invested but could not be given any concrete assurance about when the new structure would come in or how it would be funded.”
Governing body the RFU said it was “deeply concerned”.
“It is extremely disappointing that investors would take decisions at this early point in the season to place the club in such a position,” it said in a statement.
“Championship clubs had clear confirmation from the RFU on funding for the 2023/24 season and we have been working with the Championship and Premiership Rugby on the new Professional Game Partnership and shape of Premiership 2 with funding levels to be confirmed at the end of this calendar year.
“The Championship has been fully involved in these discussions since February which are aimed at stabilising and strengthening the professional game.”
